Living in a cluster of galaxies

Large clusters of galaxies are much more exciting than our modest Local Group. Within them, hundreds of members are moving rapidly past each other through a common “soup” of hot gas and dark matter. Life in such a cluster would be exciting but dangerous. Galaxy collisions are frequent; the pressure of the hot gas flowing past can rip away any anything that’s loosely attached; and there are some awesome tides. As a result, the cluster environment is too hostile a place for the formation of new stars. It may be exciting while it lasts, but eventually life will be extinguished. As well as graphically describing conditions in such a cluster, the talk will end by pondering whether the Milky Way’s fate is to be dragged into the Virgo cluster and so end up as part of a large cluster after all.

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About Richard Bower

Richard Bower completed his PhD at Durham University in October 1990. After completing postdoctoral positions at the the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich, Germany and at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, he returned to take up a lectureship in Durham, where he is now Professor. His main research interests are the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.

 

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